Younghood

 My friend Gita was teaching in #private school. Gita got married and went to the US with her husband. In the US, Gita joined a Ph.D #program in #Biotechnology department of the university. Initially, she used to send regular #emails to me describing her university and the quality of #teaching. I was very happy for her. But after one year or so, I suppose she got so busy with her #research assignment that she will hardly get any time to answer my emails.

Suddenly, after a long gap of two #decades, one day I got an email from Gita. She informed me that she is #blessed with a son. I was very happy to hear the good news that she became a mother at the age of 45.

Gita came to India. My family and I were very happy to see Gita, her husband, and her son. Gita looked very graceful and “A Mature” mom.  We had great fun together, and we loved going #swimming. One day, as we were putting on our shoes at the #entrance to the family change room at our local pool, a curious boy of about 5 years asked Gita: “Are you his grandma?” “No,” she explained, “I’m his mom.” The little boy looked confused, and #continued staring. A few minutes later he couldn’t control himself. “Are you sure you are not his grandma?” the boy insisted. “Yes…I’m pretty sure! “said Gita.

 8 8-year-old boy’s face lit up. He thought this was #Hilarious!.  My self Gita, and I came back home. Gita’s son continued to call his mother #grandma for the rest of the day, laughing every time he said it.

I found Gita was very cool and a good mother to her kid. I was so happy to find out that Gita’s #husband also had a young spirit. He would play all sorts of games with his kid. Gita and her husband were #wonderful parents and took care of each and every need of their child. They were good at #micro management and were loved by their kid. Even my children were very friendly with Aunt Gita and her husband.

Moral of the Story-. Some young parents don’t make #great parents. Some #old parents make wonderful parents. So it is not age that matters, but the quality of #parenting that is very important 

Sukarma Thareja

https://sites.google.com/site/drsukarmaranithareja/home

Teaching vs Freelance

 Myself and my friend Radha were teaching in a private school.  School was paying us a good salary, but of course not at to level of Govt. school teacher's grade. Radha was very much upset with this issue. I used to tell “dear Radha, just forget it, dear. Time is not with us, so we should forget this issue for the time being”.

As luck would have it, pandemic 2020 started. School started online classes for students; consequently, school diminished teachers’ pay packets by a significant amount. And Radha, I missed out on teaching our dear student # face-to-face, talking to our other respected teachers in person. Our senior teachers were our # backbone. They gave us such good # advice, which I and dear Radha cherish till today. We were not happy. We were missing out on meeting students, their parents, making friends, and attending educational conferences.

We decided to put our hands on as # freelancers, and it was initially very difficult work for us. We had to   create our own opportunities to socialize, regardless of whether we work at a co-working place or talk to random strangers on the street (which is quite difficult in quite a few pockets of our town).

Some may say, since we were an #introvert & didn’t care about socializing, that’s why we found it difficult. But involving ourselves in freelancing, we realized we still need to interact with people to remain sane. We also understood that one big requirement of freelancing is that one absolutely must have a monetizable skill; unless one can solve someone else’s woes, nobody is going to pay one.

 We were offered multiple job opportunities, but we were hesitant to take them on as the pay packet offered did not make sense to us from a financial perspective.

We were in a fix. We decided to take up private school teaching, and at the same time, as and when we get time, we must learn tricks of #freelancing. With that determination, my dear Radha and I sought blessings of God for unique freelancing!!!

Now COVID is over. My dear Radha, we are down to the big question: should we freelance, or keep teaching in a private school and enjoy the same?

Moral of the Story-Well, even though our experience with freelancing was mostly positive, we would encourage everyone to weigh the pros & cons and test out the freelancing waters.

Sukarma Thareja

https://sites.google.com/site/drsukarmaranithareja/home

For STEM POEMS and Life stories please do read

Science of Life and Nature: A Photo Poetry Collection: Sukarma Thareja: 9781521260067: Amazon.com: Books

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Stop complaining

I had a very good student, Yamini, in school. She did a B.Sc. from a good college in Delhi.

Whenever she comes to visit me, she will #complain about the fast life of Delhi. She did not like the public transport in Delhi.I will always tell Yamini, see my dear student, because of Delhi, you got a chance to study in one of the top colleges in Delhi. Immediately after doing B.Sc, you got a chance to teach in a government school where the pay packet is so good. A government job , means - secure job, and there is an increment in the pay packet every year

I told Yamni “complaining” habit will make you weak, dear student. Nobody watches your habit more than two or three times. People around you wonder why Yamini is complaining all day long about what’s happening in the world, the government, your boss, etc. 

Yamin, words have a huge impact on how we act and make choices.  Your negative visualization of your thoughts and beliefs achieves nothing. Your feelings are irrelevant. Nobody cares. People naturally spread their own states of mind to others. These people will try to infect you with their mindset, leading to frequent interpersonal conflicts. You lose people with your complaining habits, and they’re not motivated to connect with you. It affects all areas of your life, your career, your health, your family, and your finances. When you complain, you’re spending all your energy and attention focusing on other things at the expense of what you need to do. The cost of living like this is chaos, stress and fatigue. Therefore, Yamini, I request you to leave this bad habit of complaining. Concentrate on positive things that you are blessed with and enjoy your life.

Moral of the Story- Habit of Complaining is a weakness of one's personality. One should overcome this weakness by always believing in positive thinking or karma. One should be happy with what one is blessed with.

Sukarma Thareja

https://sites.google.com/site/drsukarmaranithareja/home

For STEM POEMS and Life stories please do read

Science of Life and Nature: A Photo Poetry Collection: Sukarma Thareja: 9781521260067: Amazon.com: Books

Amazon US link :

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1521260060

https://droplink.co/yOkb

Amazon UK link:

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https://droplink.co/9XRmTZ

 

Teachers Summer Vacation

I was attending my friend's daughter's wedding. People at that wedding party were of the popular belief that teachers spend their summers on tropical beaches, eating special ice creams.

I happened to talk with guests at a party function and said, "We teachers actually spend summer vacation time catching up on all the work we couldn't get to during the school year."

We attend professional development workshops, plan #curriculum for the upcoming year, and grade an endless pile of papers.

 The length of summer vacation varies from district to district. It also depends on whether the school is public or private.

Some districts might have slightly shorter summers, while others may extend them.

During our casual conversation, I told a guest at the party," Trust me, sir, even a few #weeks won't make this vacation as glamorous as you seem to think."

So, friends, please, before one thinks of dismissing a teacher's summer vacation as a luxury, please take a moment to appreciate the hard work and #dedication that goes into being an educator. Teachers may get a break, but our minds and hearts are constantly invested in the betterment of our students. They make projects as teaching aids to teach difficult concepts like quadratic equations in the subject #mathematics. They sometimes work on a #research paper to be presented at an educational conference. Sometimes these research papers require a lot of data to be collected. To collect data and convert the same into #analytical equation requires programming knowledge and so on. Learning new educational tools(computer software) to teach students takes time. Teachers use #summer vacation to learn educational tools.

Moral of the Story: Good teachers' minds and hearts are constantly invested in the betterment of their students. Summer vacation is the best time for a good teacher to go for professional development.

Sukarma Thareja

https://sites.google.com/site/drsukarmaranithareja/home

For STEM POEMS and Life stories please do read

Science of Life and Nature: A Photo Poetry Collection: Sukarma Thareja: 9781521260067: Amazon.com: Books

Amazon US link :

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1521260060

https://droplink.co/yOkb

Amazon UK link:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1521260060

https://droplink.co/9XRmTZ

Tranquility

 I was teaching science in school. In co curricular activity class, our guest speaker Mr Nandi talked to students about concept of body -soul-  peace. He also talked to students about the #karma theory described in the Hindu epic #Shrimad Bhagavat Gita. All teachers were very happy as students asked so many questions about good- bad karma. We thanked our guest speaker for the excellent spiritual talk, which enlightened students as well as teachers.

Mr Nandi made me think hard about the karma theory of the Hindu epic Gita. I came back from school, and before sleeping, I wrote a small poem remembering my mother. Poem "Family-Body-Soul-Peace" I pasted the same on the notice board of the school for students to read.The same I am listing below for my esteemed readers

Family-Body-Soul

For my mother, her family is her soul.

The whole day she works without stopping,

For family for extended kin,

 Her noble deeds keeps peace within, 

 In equilibrium with her physical body,

 Her actions propagate peace,

 In each family member's soul,

She seeks blessings from God,

  Which acts as positive catalyst,

Turns around prosperity,

 In the life of each member of a joint family,

Gives  peace of mind, integrity,

and the purpose of living for the entire family.

Similarly, May God initiate world peace and tranquillity,

In the world family , where all live,

 Harmoniously with   neighbors,

Respecting all sentiments around them .

Friends let my Karma Start the light,

From my home to world's height.

Sukarma Thareja

https://sites.google.com/site/drsukarmaranithareja/home

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e Mail-sukarma@iitk.ac.in

Science of Life and Nature: A Photo Poetry Collection: Sukarma Thareja: 9781521260067: Amazon.com: Books

Amazon US link :

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1521260060

Jewels in garland of society

I was teaching science in school. I observed that one of my good students, Raka, looked a little tired.

I called Raka and inquired about the reason. She said, "Madam, my mother’s health has not been very good for some days, and the doctor has advised her not to do any kind of work and only take rest. So my sister and have to do the entire #housework. Doing household work like #washing utensils,  cleaning, and making food. "

 I said, "Raka, I know it is a difficult task because mothers never burden their children with house hols work. They think that it's children's age to study, not to do housework."

I further  said " But  Raka, have you noticed people always make fun of women,  # homemakers, because they think housewives only sit at home and do nothing the whole day? But see, my child, doing all this work also requires so much #hard work."

 Raka said, "Madam, we both sisters are doing household work, but we are not able to do my mom’s level of work. We literally feel very tired, and interestingly, my mom manages to do all this work along with her job alone."

I said, "My student, it is a misconception that homemakers' work is trivial. According to me home homemakers are contributing a lot to building a harmonious society. Good homemakers are down-to-earth people. All members of the family learn a lot from their informal education.

Raka said, "Now I realize, Madam, why many of my good friends repent being home economists. They always complain that sometimes a home homemaker's job is so hard that it drains one's whole energy. But demand from family keeps increasing."

I said to Raka, "You are absolutely right. I wish family and society soon realize that homemakers are a precious jewel and a pearl in the garland of society."

 Moral of the Story-Being a #housewife and doing #housework is not as easy as people sometimes feel. One only realizes the value of this work when one actually has to do all # household work by oneself.

Sukarma Thareja 

https://sites.google.com/site/drsukarmaranithareja/home

Back Bonding Chemistry

 I was teaching my students the concept of back bonding in chemistry class. Back bonding is a chemical phenomenon in which electrons pass from one atom's atomic orbital to an acceptor (ligand). The metal's electrons are used to bind to the ligand, relieving the metal of excess negative charge in the process. I  summarized my lesson in the form of a poem. The same I am listing below for my esteemed readers.

I am Carbon #monoxide(CO), a daughter

Transition#Metal(TM) is my mother

  She is special as she has d electrons in her outermost orbit.

I, CO, wish to be together with my #mother (TM)

To do so, I form a sigma bond by overlap

Of my non-bonding (or weakly anti-bonding)

 sp-hybridized #electron pair on my carbon

With a blend of d-, s-, and #p-orbitals on the TM -My mother

 

After the formation of the #sigma bond,

There is an overlap of filled d-orbitals on the TM (mother)

 With a pair of #pi- antibonding orbitals

 Projecting from the carbon atom of  me (CO),

This bonding is from #TM to CO

Rather than usual from CO to TM

It involves pi orbitals.

This phenomenon is called #pi back bonding(BB)

The compound formed with BB of d electrons has pi bonding character.

Through BB, the TM-carbon (part of me) bond is strengthened

Alumnus IITK 1986

India

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Science of Life and Nature: A Photo Poetry Collection: Sukarma Thareja: 9781521260067: Amazon.com: Books